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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Posts
    2

    Default Unrequested Maintenance

    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: New Jersey

    First of all, I'm a good tenant. I pay my rent on time and have a steady, well-paying job. I'm quiet and don't complain much. If I were a landlord, I'd want tenants like me. However, I do value my privacy and my personal property and get really ticked off when this is not respected.

    I live in an apartment complex managed by a national company. You'd probably recognize it if I said the name. I've been pretty happy here other than one major issue with maintenance. They frequently wish to enter my apartment at vague times to perform vague unrequested maintenance. Numerous times while I've been living here, they've stuck a notice in my door saying they'll be entering my apartment some time within the next week (or in one case -- the next TWO weeks) to perform some sort of maintenance. This varies from routine HVAC maintenance to front door painting and usually has some catch-all clause like "general maintenance". It's fine for them to perform specific routine maintenance at a few specific times per year but having these week long windows that they want full access is getting ridiculous.

    To me, this vague window is an invasion of privacy given that I have no idea if I'm going to walk out of the shower or roll over in bed and see a maintenance guy walking around. It is also extremely inconvenient given that I have a pet (for which I paid a big pet deposit and pay a monthly pet fee) and the notice requires that I lock him up. Even worse, the notice has a disclaimer that they aren't responsible if they damage any of my personal property while in my apartment (without my permission and against my wishes).

    So my questions are...

    1. For what reasons can the landlord enter my apartment without my explicit request and permission? An emergency like a water heater leak is obviously reasonable but painting the front door seems a bit ridiculous.

    2. What does 24 hour notification really mean? How specific must they be about the time and work to be done? It seems to me that it would violate the spirit of the law for them to, for example, give me 24 hour notice that they'll enter my apartment any time they want over the next year for any reason they want. On the other hand, a notice on Monday that they'll be entering between 9am and 11am on Wednesday to inspect the hot water heater is perfectly reasonable. In my case, they are doing something in between so is it legal or not?

    3. At what point does the notice terminate if they don't show up? If they tell me they are going to show up within the next week but don't, at which point is it against the law for them to enter?

    4. What right do I have to be in attendance when they enter? Their notices specifically say that "appointments" are not available. I work nearby and would have no problem getting back to my apartment in order to be in attendance for whatever maintenance activities they wish to perform at whatever time is convenient for them. I'm flexible but they aren't. What is my legal right here?

    5. Are they really not responsible for damage to my personal property? If they enter my apartment without my permission (and against my wishes) how can they NOT be responsible for any damages to my property? It makes no sense to me that they can simply stick a piece of paper in my door and then come into my apartment the next day and break my stuff. Why not stick a notice on my door saying "not reasonable for missing items" and then just rob the place the next day?

    6. What recourse do I have? Looking around the internet suggests that unauthorized entry into my apartment constitutes illegal trespassing and that my recourse is calling the cops and pressing charges. Is that true?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Posts
    1,995

    Default Re: Unrequested Maintenance

    You raised some interesting issues.

    Though I'm a landlord, I've been a tenant, where a lease I had allows the landlord access with 24 hours notice, or access even without notice if I gave notice to vacate. I gave notice to vacate on an apartment I rented, after I bought a condo, and my place was robbed.

    So I understand your feelings.

    I consulted an attorney, and he advised me the lease I sign DID NOT SAY that I have to be there when the landlord comes by. I was told I had no case. This was in NY.

    As to your comment "I'll be by Wednesday between 9:00 and 11:00 to check something", half the time it doesn't work out for me if this was the case as Landlord. I had two "nuns" that I rented to, who insist that they be there WHENEVER someone comes by, for anything, and they said to me, as you, "they are nearby, and flexible with their time".

    I had to get an electrical inspection done by the utility once at this unit, so I arranged for the inspector to come by that morning, something like before 11:00. Well, the nun waited till 11:30, then left. Would you believe the inspector came by at 12:00, and left his card??

    Several more inspection dates, the same thing. I think we got up to six of them.

    And I got another tenant with a similar problem, and I can't get licensed plumbers to show up exactly at 9:15, NOT 9:00 when the guy may be coming out of the shower. Usually, the crews come late, but they somehow got there early once at 8:30 in the moring ringing the doorbell, had this maniac tenant come out yelling and screaming. The plumber told me, "forget about it", and I gave the plumber a few dollars for his trouble, just for showing up and get yelled at.

    I wind up using a "handyman" to do repairs at this guys place, with the handyman making direct apointments to come by at night, which was more convenient for the tenant. With unlicensed handyman, my legal exposure can be quite high. While the tenant may be happy that his stuff is NOT STOLEN, but I wind up with full "workman's comp" risk if this guy ever get hurt. If he fell off my roof, for instance, I'm stuck with the hospital bill, and for what, because the tenant can 't put up with a regular contractor??

    The other way I wind up doing things a few times is I had to use 24 hour plumbers with their sky high rates. I had this police officer, a narc, that has to be home (his wife is a stay at home mom with a baby) whenever ANYBODY comes by, so when his toilet wouldn't flush, I had to get a 24 hour plumber to come one evening. The plumber thought it was quite strange that the tenant narc had to wear his gun in the holser during the entire visit.

    You said you're a tenant any landlord would have. From my side, though, for every tenant I had like the nun, the narc, I would have one on the other extreme, who'll say to me "Frank, my home is your home, come by, relax, even if I'n NOT IN". One guy insist that if I come by anytime, just leave a message, I can have a beer or two from the fridge. We got along so well that I often bring a six pack by to leave in the fridge for him. And I had quite a few tenants who feel that way.

    To be honest, I'm MUCH MUCH more careful when people like the last tenant I mentioned who puts their complete trust in me. Let's say I was quite glad when the nun and the narc left, and the tenants that followed them was much easier going.

    Granted, your dealing with a large management company here, with their own staff, but I can imagine many of the problems to be the same. They'll have a crew in the middle of working on something on one end of the complex, and then say "oh my god, it's 10:00AM, we have to drop everything, and meet so and so on the other end. And we better be done by 11:00 or the guy will go nuts!!

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Posts
    2

    Default Re: Unrequested Maintenance

    Thanks for the detailed reply. It's interesting to get the viewpoint of someone who has been on both sides.

    I'd love to have a relationship with the maintenance department like what you described. In fact, for the first few months I lived here, it was the same maintenance guy each time -- a nice guy who lived in the complex and was friendly with pets. I got to know him well enough that I never worried about maintenance notices.

    Unfortunately, management decided they needed to expand the maintenance team so now there's a new head maintenance guy and a bunch of new workers at his direction. Now it's a different guy every time so there's no chance to get to know any of them. On top of that, the head guy seems to be either incompetent or just doesn't care. He has sent out numerous notices that have been either wrong about the date of maintenance or about the specifics of what they're going to do. One time, I received a notice with a scheduled date on it that was two days BEFORE I received the notice. And when you call him to clarify things, he's rude and doesn't add anything useful. On top of this, the notices are now worded like legal disclaimers. If they are going to send me notices saying they aren't responsible for damage they cause to my property while in my apartment without my permission, naturally I want to either keep them out or be here to watch over them. I have renters insurance but am not clear if the policy covers damage to my property caused by incompetent maintenance crews.

    So, in summary, I'm past the point of being friendly. I'm more curious at this point what the legal specifics are.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Posts
    1,995

    Default Re: Unrequested Maintenance

    When I consulted my attorney after my apartment was robbed, and after reviewing the lease I signed, a very standard one, his opinion was the landlord's on pretty solid ground. In particular, the part on the landlord being able to come in at any time after I gave notice to leave, in my case, a period of almost two months, before moving to the condo.

    I didn't ask about the part regarding giving 24 hour notice, and the repair people comes in sometime within the following week. Now, they can give you notice, say we'll be there tommorrow, then don't show up, and keep giving you more notices till they finally show up, if some judge says the notice window is only 1 day. Now, that would take care of the legal technicality, but wouldn't help you, would it??

    My attorney was quite emphatic about the part on the landlord giving me 24 hours notice, and no where on there in the lease is the legal requirement that I have to be there. Now, I am in charge of finances for a non-profit, and I take attendance each day, and we don't mark people down out for the day if they come in two hours late to take care of something personal, but we mark a sick or vacation day down if they took a day, say, to wait for a repairmen. Some lady was quite upset that it took almost three vacation days to take care of a broken refigerator between herself and her husband, taking advantage of the "service contract", including taking and returning a loaner refigerator, and a return visit to fix the first fix.

    Being in the position of taking attendance, I often see the employees desire to need a small time slot, and as landlord, seeing that a two hour window is for most practical purposes, unworkable.

    What some people do now is they buy small video recorders hidden inside clocks and other disguised devices that record the comings and going in their rental apartments. Some lady was noticing panties in her dressers seem to be re-arranged whenever she goes off to work, so she had the recorder turned on when she goes out, and actually caught some building staff sneaking in to play around with her panties.

    If you think about it, they have keys to your place, if they want to steal something, they don't have to give you a 24 notice for a repair, all they have to do is watch you go off to work, check to see if no one is in, just unlock the door and go in. The lady in the news that had her panties re-arranged didn't get a repair notice either.

    Believe me, I checked with my attorney about changing the locks, back then, and he told me that the landlord can legally break in, and charge me for fixing the door, and then ask me for the new keys, if I did that. As landlord now, I have provisions in the lease that REQUIRES KEYS, plus charging for damages if we had to break in, (guess where I got the idea) because I had a case or two where an emergency came up, we came by, and found our key didn't fit the lock. The tenant changed it without notifying us, and we had to break the door in.

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